Guyana’s final appellate court, CCJ, must be respected – AG  

– says public statements must not be scurrilous

Attorney General (AG) Anil Nandlall has weighed in on the controversy surrounding the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), stressing that the institution is Guyana’s final court and, as such, must be respected.

He added that public commentary on the court and its Judges must remain measured, and must not descend into scurrilous attacks. The CCJ controversy involves an unprecedented internal rift sparked by leaked confidential emails.
However, Heads of Judiciary from across the Caribbean on Tuesday reaffirmed their confidence in the CCJ while expressing grave concern over the disclosure of confidential internal communications among the court’s Judges.
The Heads of the Judiciary of Barbados, The Bahamas, Belize, Guyana, the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago also stated they would not comment on the merits of statements or allegations attributed to individual Judges, nor on matters arising from the court’s internal deliberative or administrative processes.
Commenting on this statement during his programme “Issues in the News” on Tuesday evening, Nandlall said it demonstrates judicial rectitude.
“This is a statement that demonstrates respect and sobriety and maintains the sacrosanct aura that ought to attach to a matter of such grave importance. The tone of this statement, the content of this statement, demonstrates judicial rectitude and restraint, becoming of the institutions from which this statement emanates,” the AG said.
He noted the statement issued by the Bar Council of the Bar Association of Guyana demonstrates similar restraint.
In a statement on Monday, the Bar Council said the CCJ’s institutional integrity must be respected, protected, and preserved. It also noted that internal correspondence and deliberations within the court are, and must remain, confidential. Additionally, the Bar Council stated that it expresses no view on the substance of the matters raised in the correspondence.
According to Nandlall, the Bar Council’s statement is “equally sober”.
“A statement, I believe, that asserts the continuing respect for the court and its processes,” he posited. “You will note the similarity in tone and content between this statement and the statement that came from the judiciaries of the Caribbean.”
Sharing his own views on the controversy, Nandlall expressed similar sentiments, reminding us that the CCJ is Guyana’s final court.
“Importantly, whatever is unfolding publicly… it is of fundamental importance that I remind you that the Caribbean Court of Justice is Guyana’s final court, and it stands at the apex of the system administering justice in this country. Therefore, while persons can make public statements about the court and its members, even critical ones, they are obliged by law to do so respectfully, and not to subject the court or its members to scurrilous criticisms and scandalising attacks. To do so would bring the administration of justice into disrepute, and indeed, constitute a contempt of court,” he expressed.
In this regard, Nandlall also condemned comments made by a politician associated with We Invest in Nationhood (WIN), Mark Goring, who posted on Facebook that “The evidence shows that the CCJ President compromised long, bring the Baygon; let’s spray out this cockroach.”
“This is a grossly disrespectful and scurrilous attack upon the President of the Caribbean Court of Justice, the highest-ranking Judicial Officer of the Judiciary of Guyana, and it constitutes a scathing attack – not only on the Caribbean Court of Justice, but also on the administration of justice in Guyana,” Nandlall asserted.
“I condemn this contemptuous publication in the strongest possible terms, and I invite every right-thinking member of society to do the same,” he further posited.